U.S. tackles thorny executive pay issue

The U.S. Treasury has appointed Washington lawyer Kenneth Feinberg to the task of assigning executive pay levels at seven bailed out corporations.

In a move meant to answer public anger over huge salaries and bonuses at U.S. companies propped up by billions of taxpayer dollars, the Treasury authorized Feinberg, who oversaw the effort to compensate families after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, to set pay for the top five executives and the 20 highest paid employees at American International Group, Bank of America, and Citigroup. General Motors Corp. and Chrysler, plus their two financial firms, are also on the list, The New York Times reported Thursday.

In a statement, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said high pay for executives was a contributing factor in the financial meltdown that began last year.

For now, the move will have no impact on most firms that received federal assistance before February, but the initiative includes two bills forwarded to Congress that seek to address compensation issues.

The first bill would give shareholders more power over company pay policies. The second would give the Securities and Exchange Commission more power in regulating the relationship between compensations committees and a company’s board of directors, The Washington Post reported.